1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to applications resident on a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) for mobile communications and, more particularly, to methods and apparatuses that specify timing parameters for which text is displayed on a communications device, thus providing a consistent “look and feel” between various manufacturers of communications devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
A similar “look and feel” is a concern for telecommunications service providers. When a user subscribes to GSM service, that user may select from many different designs of communications devices. These communications devices are manufactured by various companies, and these communications devices may have differing features, such as keypad designs, display devices, software operating systems, and others. The user's telecommunications service provider, however, usually offers a single, common Subscriber Identity Module profile for all users. Although all users utilize the same, common Subscriber Identity Module profile, the differing features between the various communications devices often prevent a common visual and audible experience for the users for Subscriber Identity Module-driven applications.
A Subscriber Identity Module resident application displaying text on the screen of a communications device using the Subscriber Identity Module Application Toolkit is an example. Today the display of text is for the most part at the discretion of the communications device. That is, the communications device determines when text, which has been displayed, is cleared from the display. The current Subscriber Identity Module Application Toolkit has a command (the DISPLAY TEXT command) that specifies how text is cleared on the display screen. This command has two options for clearing text: 1) clearing text after a delay determined by the communications device, and/or 2) waiting for the user to clear the text through some interaction with the communications device. In neither case, however, may the Subscriber Identity Module application specify timing parameters for this command—the timing is dependent upon parameters defined by the terminal handset. So, even though a telecommunications service provider may utilize a common Subscriber Identity Module application for all users, the differing timing parameters between the differing communications device creates a different “look and feel” despite the common Subscriber Identity Module application.
There is, accordingly, a need in the art for a similar “look and feel” for all the communications devices, a need for clearing text that is less dependent on differing communications devices, and a need for clearing text as determined by the Subscriber Identity Module application stored in the Subscriber Identity Module.